Operation Stop Gang Violence (OSGV)

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Operation Stop Gang Violence (OSGV) aims to prevent gang violence through the use of situational crime prevention, which is rooted in routine activity theory. Situational crime prevention utilizes “discrete managerial and environmental” changes to reduce the opportunity for crimes to occur (Clarke, 1997, 2). This strategy focuses on the location of the crime, rather than the reasoning behind it. Situational crime prevention arises out of routine activity theory, which states that crime occurs when a motivated offender, suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian converge in space and time (Cohen & Felson, 1979). According to routine activity theory, if one of these three elements is absent a crime will not occur. Furthermore, a person’s …show more content…

The situational crime prevention techniques employed by OSGV include, installing 6-foot-high iron gates to close roads leading to and from gang-violence hotspots and having police officers monitor blocks for graffiti and tagging. Utilizing iron gates that restrict access to and from gang-violence hotspots are an example of target hardening, and access control, which are opportunity-reducing techniques, derived from situational crime prevention. Target hardening includes the use of physical barriers to obstruct criminals (Clarke, 1997). Therefore the iron gates are a prime example of a target hardening technique. These gates change a person’s daily routine, altering their daily route, which according to routine activity theory can aid in preventing crime. Access control, refers to measures implemented to prevent potential offenders from entering certain areas (Clarke, 1997). The iron gates help prevent potential offenders from entering violent gang territory. These situational crime prevention techniques are influenced by routine activity theory and inhibit offenders from gaining easy access to gang hotspots and areas that are commonly tagged. The gates inhibit traffic flow to the ten blocks therefore causing them to impede on the convergence in time and space of motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of capable guardians (Cohen & Felson, …show more content…

Formal surveillance is another opportunity-reducing measure inspired by routine activities theory and is utilized in OSGV through the use of police officers (Clark, 1997). Police officers are assigned to blocks and are supposed to look for evidence of graffiti. The police officers are expected to patrol the vandalized areas and arrest offenders who are caught re-tagging. The officers as formal surveillance are being used as capable guardians to thwart potential offenders (Clark, 1997). The addition of police officers as capable guardians disrupts the convergence of a suitable target, and motivated offender. Having a capable guardian, according to routine activity theory, “is sufficient to prevent the successful completion” of a crime (Cohen & Felson, 1979,

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